Christmas may be on the horizon but there has been little sign of things slowing down among Liverpool Chamber’s staff and its members.
Last week, we were pleased to bring together senior colleagues from Ryanair, our strategic partner Liverpool John Lennon Airport and a selection of invited Chamber members to an event at the Museum of Liverpool.
Following a session of networking, Jason McGuinness, Chief Commercial Officer of Ryanair, outlined the airline’s latest developments and reaffirmed its strategic growth plans and continued commitment to LJLA, including confirmation of a sixth aircraft based permanently at the airport and three new routes. John Irving, CEO of Liverpool John Lennon Airport, also addressed the event to discuss the successful long-term partnership between Ryanair and LJLA and the vital role it plays in fostering connectivity and driving economic growth for the Liverpool City Region.
A short time later, I was at the offices of our Patron members, RSM, who welcomed the social media team from the US Embassy to their meeting rooms, overlooking the city’s waterfront. The team was in town to film a special video commemorating the signing of the Declaration of Independence, which marks its 250th Anniversary this year. I was honoured to be asked to provide some insights and background to Liverpool’s ongoing trade and important commercial relationships with the United States.
A day earlier, we had gathered with our strategic partners and patrons for our final Executive Event of the year, hosted at Fazenda on Exchange Flags. A more informal format than usual, the event was a great opportunity for guests to catch up and share their plans for 2026. We then moved on to our annual carol service at the beautiful St Nicholas’ Church, held in conjunction with Liverpool BID Company.
The week was rounded off with a Well Connected event for more than 80 member businesses at the Empire Theatre. Guests heard from Laura Evans at Glass Ceilings, Loren Slade from our charity partner Liverpool Women’s Hospital, and Damian Meyers of Clan Contracting and Lindsey Moore of Agnes Marketing, both of whom spoke on behalf of University of Liverpool’s Help to Grow programme.
This week has continued at a high pace, welcoming the authors of the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report to Liverpool for a lunch with members of the Chamber, Professional Liverpool and the ICAEW, and also continuing our response to the Budget by offering members a chance to hear from professional experts in areas such as tax, HR and finance at an interactive discussion that aims to unpack the most important measures, their potential impact on businesses and ways to mitigate risk.
We will spend the final few weeks of this year supporting members’ events wherever possible whilst our attention inevitably turns towards our first major event of 2026, which will be Well Connected at The Spine on January 16. The event will not only be a great opportunity for members to catch up after the Christmas break, but also for us to provide more detail on our plans to increase engagement with and provision of services to businesses in the creative and digital sectors. I’m sure it will be as well subscribed as ever and hopefully we will all be feeling refreshed after a well-earned break – but just not yet!
